Light On the Muhammadan Sunnah Or Defence of the Hadith

Malik and His Muwatta’:

He is Malik ibn Anas, belonging to tribe of Dhu Asbah from Himyar. He was a venerable imam who lived contemporaneously with the best of Tabi’un. There is no agreement regarding date of his birth between the year 91 and 93 H. Date of his death was the year 179 H.

Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi says: Leaders of people in their times are four: Sufyan al-Thawri in Kufah, Malik in Hijaz, al-Awza’i in Sham and Hammad ibn Zayd in Basrah.

Of Malik’s sayings: This science is religion, so you should know from whom you take your religion. I have realized (time of) seventy among

those who say: ‘The Messenger of Allah said in these pillars’,

547 but I never learnt anything from them. If the treasury was committed to the charge of anyone of them he would be trustworthy. He used to exert his opinion in cases of ijtihad and in respect of men of knowledge attained in his town.

548

Al-Shafi’i is reported to have said: Verily the most authentic and veracious book after the Book of Allah being Muwatta’ of Malik.

549 Al-Dihlawi, in Hujjat Allah al-balighah, writes: The first class of hadith books can be realized through reading three books: al-Muwatta’ and Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. And the second class were books that could not reach the position of al-Muwatta’ and two Sahihs, but they come after them in order, like Sunan of Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi and al-Nasa’i. The third group included Musnads and compilations written before those of al-Bukhari and Muslim, and during their time and in the period following them, containing the sahih, hasan, da’if, well-known, strange, odd, disapproved, wrong and correct, and the established and reversed traditions. The traditionists were depending mainly upon the second class books.

In Tanwir al-hawalik al-Suyuti quoted al-Qadi Abu Bark ibn al-Arabi as saying: Al-Muwatta’ is the first source, and Sahih al-Bukhari is the second source … and Malik narrated a hundred thousand traditions of which he selected ten thousand in al-Muwatta’, keeping then on referring them to the Book (Qur’an) and Sunnah (practical Sunnah) till sorting out only five hundred traditions (i.e. the confirmed [musnad] hadith).

550 In another narration by Ibn al-Habbab: “… and he kept on referring them to the Book and Sunnah and testing them with old traditions and akhbar till they were sifted to only five hundred traditions.

In al-Dibaj al-mudhahhab fi ma’rifat a’yan al-madhhab (i.e. al-Maliki), Ibn Farhun writes: Atiq al-Zubaydi said: Malik compiled al-Muwatta’ with about ten thousand traditions. He every year kept on reviewing it and dropping from it till only the extant traditions remained of it, and had very few of them remained he would have dropped it as a whole.

551

In Sharh al-Muwatta’ al-Zarqani writes: He (Malik) year to year kept

on extracting and refining them to the extent he found more convenient for Muslims and more typical in religion.

552

Ibn al-Habbab states that Malik narrated a hundred thousand traditions recording ten thousand from among them in al-Muwatta’, which he kept on subjecting them to the Book and Sunnah, and testing them with old traditions and akhbar till clearing them into five hundred traditions.

Al-Kia al-Harras says: Malik’s Muwatta’ contained first nine thousand traditions, which he kept on clearing and selecting till they became only five hundred ones, (p.11 of the introduction to Sharh al-Zarqani ala Muwatta’ Malik).

Al-Abhari Abu Bakr says: The total number of traditions recorded in Malik’s Muwatta’, reported from the Prophet (S) and the Companions and Followers were 1720 traditions, of which 600 were musnad, 222 mursal, 613 mawquf and 285 utterances of the Followers. Al-Suyuti in his al-Taqrib reporting Ibn Hazm as saying: When enumerating the traditions stated in al-Muwatta’ and in the hadith of Sufyan ibn Uyaynah, in every one of them 500 plus musnad, 300 mursal and seventy plus traditions, can be found, acting according to which was forsaken by Malik himself.

Some ulama’ said: Malik was the first to compile and record sahih traditions, but he did not confine himself to them alone, but inserted also the mursal, munqati’ and balaghat (reports). Among his reports there were uncommon traditions, as mentioned by al-Hafiz Ibn Abd al-Barr.

Divergence of His Narrations:

From Malik incongruous narrations were reported that differ in order of chapters, and in number till reaching twenty different copies, and they amounted to thirty according to other traditionists.

553

Al-Shaykh Abd al-Aziz al-Dihlawi (d. 1139 H), in his book Bustan al-muhaddithin, writes: The copies of al-Muwatta’ that are extant nowadays in the Arab countries are numerous, of which sixteen copies were referred to,

each one reported from a certain narrator.

Abu al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Husayn al-Shafi’i says: The copies of Muwatta’ known to be compiled by Malik are eleven, with their denotation being identical and only four of which are commonly referred to, being: Muwatta’ Yahya ibn Yahya, Muwatta’ Ibn Bakr, Muwatta’ Abi Mus’ab and Muwatta’ Ibn Wahb, with diminishing of reference to other copies.

Among the narrations there is great incongruity including bringing forward and backward, addition and omission, the greatest and most ample of which being the additions of the narration of Abu Mus’ab.

554 Ibn Hazm said: In Abu Mus’ab’s narration there is addition exceeding all other Muwatta’s with about one hundred traditions.

Al-Suyuti says: In the narration of Muhammad ibn al-Hasan there are several traditions exceeding other narrations of Muwatta’.

Dr. Ahmad Amin has explained the reason of this divergence saying: “Malik used to keep on compiling a copy of his book, but rather he was perpetually changing and modifying in it, and he used to review and revise the traditions, with eliminating whatever could not be confirmed. Those who heard al-Muwatta’ had in fact heard it in different times, with divergence in wording in every copy. Of these copies extant is the copy narrated by Yahya ibn al-Laythi, which was exposed by al-Zarqani, and the one narrated by Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani, companion of Abu Hanifah, which contained many things that were not found in the copy of Yahya, as he used to mix what he narrated from Malik with his opinions, saying “Often: Muhammad said.”

555

Cause and Time of Its Compilation: 556

Al-Muwatta’ was compiled during the last days of the reign of al-Mansur, in the year 148H. The reason for this — as reported by al-Shafi’i — was that Abu Ja’far al-Mansur sent after Malik on his coming to al-Madinah,

saying to him: Disagreement found way among people of Iraq, so you are asked to compile a book upon which you gather and unite them, hence he compiled al-Muwatta’. In another narration, he said to him also: In it (book) you should avoid oddities of Ibn Abbas, intensities of Ibn Umar and permissions of Ibn Mas’ud. Malik said to him: O Amir al-Mu’minin it is not for us to compel people to follow and adhere to utterance of one man liable to err and be correct. And, as stated before, al-Mansur was so much concerned with hadith and studying it. Ibn Abd al-Barr reported that the first who compiled a book in al-Madinah on the basis of the meaning of al-Muwatta’ — as unanimously concurred by men of al-Madinah — was Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah ibn Salamah al-Majshun (d. 164 H.), which was reviewed by Malik before compiling his Muwatta’.

Criticism of Ibn Mu’in to Malik:

Ibn Mu’in said: Malik was not a man of hadith but a man of opinion. Al-Layth ibn Sa’d said: I have counted seventy issues for Malik, all of which being contradictory to the Messenger'’ Sunnah.

Malik admitted this fact, and al-Daraqutni compiled a booklet containing the traditions recorded by Malik in al-Muwatta’ and other books, that were contradictory (to the Messenger’s Sunnah). This booklet is kept at al-Zahiriyyah Library in Damascus.

Pillars of the mosque.
His town is al-Madinah (Yathrib).
There are other narrations for this hadith, like: 'No book is there on earth, after the Book of Allah, more authentic than the book of Malik'. And: 'I never know a book more veracious in knowledge than that of Malik'. Also: 'No book is ever there nearer to the Qur'an than the book of Malik'. And again: 'No book, other than the Qur'an, is there more beneficial than al-Muwatta'. Some traditionists used to call al-Muwatta' with the name al-Sahih (Sharh al-Zarqani 'ala al-Muwatta', vol. I, p. 9).
The musnad (marfu') is a hadith reported by a connected chain of Companions (going back to the Prophet). And the mursal is that hadith of whose sanad (chain of transmitters) the name of a Companion is dropped, and is reported by a Follower directly from the Messenger of Allah. While the mawquf is that saying or act or alike which is ascribed to the Companion, whether be connected or interrupted. And the marfu' is that hadith in which the Companion relates from the Messenger of Allah.
See p. 25 of al-Dibaj.
Sharh al-Zarqani, vol. I, p. 11.
The like of this is cited by al-Zarqani in his Sharh, vol. I, p. 7.
Abu al-Mus'ab al-Zuhri was the last among those who reported al-Muwatta' from Malik, due to his youth. He lived after Malik for 63 years, and his Muwatta' was the most perfect among its counterparts since it contained 590 traditions (Tawjih al-nazar, p. 17).
Munji al-Islam, vol. II, p. 215.
Ibn Abd al-Barr, in his book al-Intiqa, (p. 41) reported that Muhammad ibn Sa'd said: I heard Malik ibn Anas say: When Abu Ja'far al-Mansur made pilgrimage (to Makkah), he summoned me and asked: I am determined to order to have your book (al-Muwatta') copied into many copies and sent to all towns of Muslims, and to command all people to act according to them, and not to follow other than them! As I have seen the origin of knowledge to be in narration of people of al-Madinah. In another narration, al-Mansur asked him (Malik) to compile a book for the people in which restraints of Ibn Umar, permissions of Ibn Abbas and oddities of Ibn Mas'ud can be evaded.